Door-closing device



July z, 1925.

F. E. DANFORTH DOOR CLOSING DEVICE Filed May 16, 92'

2 Sheets-Shaet 2 I Z\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ \\\\\\\\\\Y PIE-5 PIE-B Patented July 21, 1925.

UNITED STATES 'FREDERICK E. DANFORTH, OF AMBBlDGE; MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO RICE &7.

PATENT OFFICE.

COMPANY, OF LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPOBATION OF MASSAC I-US ETTS.

DOOR-CLOSING DEVICE.

Application filed May 16, 1921. Serial No. 470,092.

To all 'whom z't may concern: i v

Be it known that I, FREDERICK E DAN- FORTH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cambridge, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Door-Closing Devices, of which the following is a specification, I My invention relates to closure devices for doors. Its purpose is to so arrange the parts that the difference in tension of a closing spring or springs will be' equalized by shifting the. leverage in order that the door u may be positively closed by a relatively steady pressure. To accomplish this purpose I utilize the toggle joint principle. I prefer to use compression instead of tension springs as they retan their' strength longer. Other objects of my invention are facility of adjustment, the chance to use two light springs instead one heavy spring, and the economy of available space by utilizing the vertical instead of the horizontal for eX- pansion and contraction in such restricted the door occupies when closed, and at the same time will tend at all times to open it out in either direction desired.

In the drawings, Fig. l is a sectional elevation from the inside of an elevator car, the entrance to which is shown as being the full size of the car, such entrance being en- 4 'i tirely filled by two collapsible doors, one of 4 which is provided with a double action and the other with a single action closing device of my Construction.

Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation from the inside of an elevator car the opening of which is partly cased or boarcled in, the rest of its front being a door opening equipped with a solid or non-collapsible door, one of my double action closing devices being attached to such door and the casing.

Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation from the inside of an elevator car, of which the front opening is partially' cased or boarded in leaving the door opening for which is 'provided a collapsible door equipped' with ?a single actionclosing device shown more in device shown in Fig. 3.

F ig. 5 is a plan view'of the top o f an ordinary door hung upon vertical hinges provided with a double action` closing device.

Fig. 6 is an elevation enlarged showing the type' of i double .action closing device shown in Fig. 1.

Fig; 7 is an elevation rom the right of Fig. 6. r p

Fig. 8 is a horizontal section of one of the bars 20 `or 22 with the lazy-tongs sections 23, 23. I

Fig. 1 is an elevation from the inside of an elevator car or cage A, in which the whole front of the casing, indicated at the left by 10, at the bottom by ll, at the right by 12 and at the top by l3, is open. While this casing moves as part of the car, it. is fixed in position'with reference to thedoor or doors. The *doorsB and C fill the entire front of A, and both are of a well known collapsible lazy-tongs type. {Each is builtup of ?the slotted or grooved vertical door bars 22, some of which, 20', are extra long and are hungatthetop on rollers 19 which run on a track T attached to the car, A. Each door is. shown' as built up of vertical slotted door bars 20 and 22, connected' by two separate horizontal collapsible sections 23, 24, 25, 26, all in a well known manner.

y The doorbar 22 at'the'right of B and the bar 22 at the left of C are shown as fastened together by means of bolts 21, 21, in such manner thatthey can be separated at will, and the door B isshown as provided with sliding bolts 9,`9-, whereby it can be fixed in the positionshown.

WVhen in ordinary use, the door B is fixed in the eXpanded 'position and the door C is used for ingress and egress, but if it is desired to usethe 'whole opening A, the bolts 21, 21, andbolt's 9, 9, are withdrawn, the door B is collapsed to the 1eft,-and the door C to the right, as shown by the dottecl lines, so that almost the entire opening can be used.

I show door C provided with a double action closing device E, and door B with a single action closing device M, both of which operate on substantially the same principle which will now be described.

The double action closing device shown in detail in Figs. 6 and 7 comprises the main closing arms 34 and 36. One end of 34 is pivoted at what I will call casing pivot 33 to one door bar 22 near the side towards which the door is to be moved and at the other end 35 to a connecting member 38, while the other arm 36 is pivoted at what I will call door pivot 27 to another door bar 22 and at its other end 37 to connecting member 38.

Connecting member 38 is slidable on an adjustment rod F and can be adjusted and fixed thereon by means ot a set screw 39.

Adjustment rod F is slidable in rod bearings 40 and 41 which, in the double action device, are shown as attached to a floating bearing carrier G, which is shown as a bar ot' metal supported by bearings 40 and 41, and also by the supplementary or double action closing arms 30 and 31 which are pivoted together and to hearing carrier Gr at 32. The other end of arm 30 is pivoted at 33 and the other end of arm 31 is pivoted at 27. Adjustment rod F at the bottom carries an adjusting collar 50 which can be adjusted in position by means ot a set screw 51. The main closing spring 42 is located between bearing 40 and collar 50, and there is an additional closing spring 43 between bearing 41 and connecting member 38.

As the door is collapsed, the bars 20, 22, including those which carry pivots 33 and 27, by the laZy-tongs action of collapsible sections 23, 24, all move in one direction towards the casing and towards each other, thus torcing casing pivot 33 and door pivot 27 towards each other, as see the dotted position ot E at the left in Fig. 1.

As pivots 33 and 27 approach each other, arms 34 and 36 force up rod F, and arms 30 and 31 force bearing carrier G down, compressing the main closing spring 42 between 50 and 40, and the additional closing spring 43 between 38 and 41. In starting the collapsing operation, the. springs, as they begin tobe compressed, exert very little pressure, but as the door is collapsed, the levera-ge of the arms on the springs increases as the springs are compressed, thereby one ofisetting the other, and when the door is released, the springs being at high tension overcome the leverage of the arms and tend to expand the door, thereby closing the opening.

*By adjusting collar 50 and connecting member 38, the throw of the arms and the tension on the springs can be materially altered.

The single action closing device M, shown on door B in Fig. 1, is substantially the same as that shown in Fig. 3 to be described, except that it is upside down and so does not need a butter spring such as 61 and has two closing springs. i

While the door C is fixed in the eXpanded position by the bolts 9, 9, and the door B is attached thereto by screws 21, 21, door C will normally be collapsed to the left, bringing the closing device E to the left dotted position, but it it is desired to open both doors, after the bolts 21, 21, are removed and bolts 9, 9 withdrawn, the door C is collapsed to the right, bringing the closing device Eto the right hand dotted position, and the door B is collapsed to the left, bringing the closing clevice M to the dotted position at the left.

In Fig. 2, H represents the solid front casing ot' an elevator car which partly incloses the front of A, and K represents a solid or non-collapsible door. This is equipped with a double action closing device E similar to that shown in Fig. 1, one pivot 33 being fixed to the casing and the other 27 being fixed to the door.

In Fig. 3, the solid or non-collapsible casing ot the car is shown at S, and a single action device N is shown pivoted at 33 to one of the left vertical bars' 20 of door C, and at 27 to one of the right Vertical bars 20 of door C. The casing S is shown as overlapping on the line 60, and a bolt 9 holds the left bar 22 in place.

The fioating hearing carrier is not necessary, as the bearngs 40 and 41 tor rod F are fixed to another bar 20 and the spring 42 is shown as not extending to adjusting collar 50 when the door opening is closed, and as attached at the top to bearing 40. There is also shown between connecting member 38 and bearing 40 a butter spring 61 for a purpose to be described. See Fig. 4.

hen the door C is collapsed or opened towards the left, the main spring 42 does not come into action until the adjusting collar 50 has traversed some distance, so that the door opens easily. lVhen brought to the dotted line position, the toggle joint action compresses the main spring very strongly, and when the door is released it springs back and throws the door the last part ot' its course. The butter spring 61 prevents the connecting member 38 from coming down with a bang on bearing 40, the result being that the door is thrown shut, or almost shut, but without any pounding, as see Fg. 4. i V

In Fig. 5, I show my double action closing device E applied to an ordinary house door,

such as O, liinged at 90 to the door casing In order to clear the top of the door, the arm P must be' above the top and the pivot 27 must also extend above the top of door O so that the closing devce E, when the door is open, will lie under arm P and over door O.

It will be observed that the single action closing device may have a single closing spring, such as 42 shown on N in Fig. 3 and in Fig. 4, and the bearings 40 and 41 may be carried by one of the door bars 20 or, as shown on M in Fig. l, the bearings 40, 41, may be fixed to a bar, such as G, and there may be two springs 42 and 43 placed respectively between collar 50 and stationary bearing 40, 'and connecting member 38 and stationary hearing 41. In some cases a single stili' spring may be desired, and in other cases two lighter springs.

It will also be observed that the main closing arms and preferably the double action closing arms are so pivoted and of such length that they will form a greater angle with each other when the door is closed or collapsed than when the door is opened or eXpanded, and that the spring closing means is so located with reference to the adjustment rod and bearings as to normally tend to separate the pivots.

I claim:

The combination with a door casing, of a collapsible door formed with a plurality of door bars movable with reference thereto and to each other, a door pivot attached to one of said door bars, a second pivot nearer the side of the casing towards which the door is to opened, rod bearings fixed to a door bar between said pivots which serves as a hearing carrier, an adjustment rod slidable in said bearings, a connectng member on said adjustment rod, a main closing arm pivoted to the second pivot at one end and to the connecting member at its other end, another main closing arm pivoted to the door pivot at one end and to the connecting member at the other end, a stop adjustable on the adjustment rod, a main compression spring between said stop and a hearing, and a bufi'er spring between the connectng member and said hearing.

FREDERICK E. DANFORTH. 

